Buc-ee’s started welcoming customers at its biggest-ever travel center earlier in the week.
Locals and travelers alike gained access to the 74,000-square-foot Buc-ee’s travel center and its eye-popping 120 gas pumps in Sevierville, Tennessee, as of Monday, according to a press release. The company dubbed the new location at Interstate 40’s Exit 407 the "largest travel center in the world," a title it will apparently not hold forever.
Customers of the massive Sevierville store, like other locations, will be able to get "Buc-ee’s favorites" such as Beaver Nuggets, homemade fudge and Texas barbeque, the release said. It also operates a large carwash.
The center's opening on Monday was marked with a ribbon-cutting in the morning, with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn and local officials in attendance.
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In a statement, Buc-ee’s co-founder Arch Alpin III described it as a "long time coming," adding that it was the "world’s largest Buc-ee’s for now" and that he "highly suspect[s] this will be the busiest store we’ve ever built."
The Buc-ee’s that will wind up dethroning the Sevierville travel center for that status remains under construction in Luling, Texas, according to a separate press release. The sprawling facility, once opened, will boast 1,000 more square feet than Sevierville’s.
The location in Sevierville lifts Buc-ee’s total number of stores to 46, with roughly two-thirds of those located in Texas, where the company has its headquarters. Tennessee is home to one other Buc-ee’s, also located in the eastern portion of the state.
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Buc-ee’s is "going to provide jobs for our community and economic development," Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said in a statement. The company said in June that Sevierville’s Buc-ee’s was expected to add at least 200 jobs to the local economy.
In a June press release, Buc-ee’s real estate director, Stan Beard, touted the Sevierville store’s location, noting it was "nested in the gateway to Pigeon Forge, Dollywood, Gatlinburg, and of course, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," all of which are popular locales in the Sevier County area.
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Sevier County, which had a population of nearly 100,200 in 2022, sees more than 11 million people visit the area each year, according to the East Tennessee Economic Development Agency.
Its labor force participation rate, as of December, came in at 65.77%, an economic report on the ETEDA website found.
